228 
Yellow-Headed Blackbird 
most other birds are singing finished nuptial songs, however humble, this ; 
fine fellow, perched aloft on a cluster of swaying reed-stems, is strain- 
ing every nerve in an attempt that results, after a few harsh pre- 
liminary, but fairly promising notes, in a seemingly painful choking spell i 
that terminates in a long-drawn rasping squeal that is nothing short of 
harrowing. It has always seemed as though some day a Yellowheadl 
would be found who could sing the song that they are all trying so hard I 
to render, but thus far not a single note of the dreadful discord has been i 
improved upon, and it always ends in the same disappointing failure. . 
The rasping sounds are accompanied by a most intense bodily effort, 
gests a chronic sore throat. The voice of the female is less harsh, and 'j 
I have never heard it utter the long squeal of the male. 
As an economic factor, the Yellow-headed Blackbird plays about the ' 
of less importance than the latter enormously abundant and widely dis- 
tributed species. 
But with the coming of spring and the reoccupation of the northern i 
portions of their range, they congregate at their nesting-haunts and for ■ 
a time supplement their insect and waste-seed diet by extensive stealings i 
from the various grains being planted by the neighboring farmers. . 
Wheat, oats, flax, corn, and, in fact everything, receives a share of their 
attention at this time. Sprouting corn is pulled up by the roots in order 
to> get at the grain below, and in fields near the sloughs it is only by re- 
planting the despoiled hills and covering with manure that a crop can i 
be started at all. 
It is at this season that the Yellowhead a‘nd its associates — the Red- 
wing and Crackle — come in for their first bitter denunciation by the 
plundered farmer. After the crops are well started, the Yellowhead once 
Black Terns, Crackles and Cowbirds, may be found following every 
plow and greedily devouring the many angleworms and insects turned 
out. I have known them to consume large numbers of the white grub 
of the cockchafer in this way. Crasshoppers they eat at this time as 
well as all through the season, and this insect forms a large part of the 
food of the young. 
Classification and Distribution 
The Yellow-headed Blackbird belongs to the Order Passeres, and Family 
Corvidce. Its scientific name is Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus. It ranges in 
summer from the upper Mississippi Valley on the east, and the Saskatchewan 
Valley on the north to the central plains, southern Rocky Mountains and southern 
California. Its winters are spent in northern and central Mexico. 
This and other Educational Leaflets are for sale, at 5 cents each, by the National Association of 
Audubon Societies, 1974 Broadway, New York City. Lists given on request. 
as is evidenced by the widely spread tail, swollen 
throat, upturned head and twisted neck. Even the 
ordinary call-note is a hoarse rattling croak that sug- 
same role as the Redwing ; but the fact that it is in the aggregate much ii 
less numerous and much more restricted in its general range renders it t 
Spring 
Mischief 
more returns to a diet that is more beneficial than 
injurious. During the “breaking” season they, in 
company with a troop made up of Franklin’s Gulls, 
